FBI Friday

The recent FBI report on the Clinton eMail investigation is… well.. since both sides are claiming “victory” in it, you know that it is most assuredly not victorious for either side. What is it? At the end of the day, it’s a graywash that in no way, shape or form addresses the real issue.

Earlier this week the Supreme Court ruled that the State of Ohio couldgo ahead with it’s purge of Voter rolls, as it did not violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. This, naturally, has set off a firestorm of accusations that “Republicans are suppressing the vote!” and screeching that the Trump Supreme Court is dangerously (politically) right and therefore he should be impeached or unelected or catch the Ebola. Anything.

The resulting ruling in the case gives us a great view of the political influences at work on the Court. You might think that the Court can easily answer a question, “Is this legal under this law or not?” The problem comes in when two things happen. First, Congress writes a law is that both mandates that something be done, and at the same time makes exceptions to that mandate (think the Affordable Care Act). Second, when the policy question of “Why did Congress make this law?” enters into the discussion. Once the Court is debating policy, it’s open season on the whole enterprise.